German assistance to repair Mahamodara maternity hospital

External Resources Department Director General R.M.P Rathnayake and German Ambassador to Sri Lanka Jörn Rohde at the agreement signing ceremony 

• Euro 43 million in total to be used to complete reconstruction

Mahamodara Maternity Hospital is being reconstructed with the financial assistance from KfW, Germany, the Finance Ministry said in a statement yesterday. 

KfW has initially extended a loan of Euro 28 million to complete the reconstruction work of the hospital, which was initiated by a grant from the Helmut Kohl Foundation. 

Further, KfW has extended a supplementary loan of Euro 13 million to cover the cost escalation and additional requirements of the hospital. The construction work of the hospital is nearing completion and it is expected that the hospital could be commissioned in mid-2020. 

Meanwhile, the German Government has agreed to provide a grant of Euro 2.1 million to be utilised for technical assistance. Areas of technical assistance financed by the grant will include support to the introduction of a Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) (incl. procurement and installation of hardware and software as well as staff training in line with the national HMIS); support to the strengthening of the hospital equipment and building maintenance systems (incl. the development and introduction of maintenance plans, training of maintenance technicians and medical staff, procurement of maintenance equipment); support to the strengthening of the quality management system with a particular focus on highly sensitive areas such as intensive care and hospital hygiene; and provision of training and further education of medical staff through twinning arrangements with international hospitals. 

External Resources Department Director General R. M. P. Rathnayake signed the inter-government agreement and grant agreement (financing agreement) on 17 December on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka with the German Government and KfW. German Ambassador to Sri Lanka Jörn Rohde and KfW Development Bank Principal Project Manager Andreas Godon signed the agreements on behalf of the German government and KfW respectively.